MEDIA ALERT: At its Fall Board meeting on Nov 15th, 2022, AMEU’s President Mimi Kirk announced the inaugural recipient of AMEU/John F. and Sharon Mahoney Award for Service:
Chicago-based illustrator/graphic artist, “Shirien Creates”.
The AMEU/Mahoney Award is given annually to a person who exemplifies the spirit of the work to which John and Sharon are devoted at Americans for Middle East Understanding, the organization John lead for four decades. The selection of Shirien Creates recognizes her exceptional visual voice, which speaks so empathically and emphatically to American publics, and in particular its younger generations.
In recognition of the initiative, AMEU’s Board passed the following resolution today:
The AMEU/John F. and Sharon Mahoney Award for Service was established in 2022 as an expression of the Board of Directors profound appreciation for two lifetimes of ongoing service and commitment. By providing American audiences with better-informed understandings of the Middle East– including its people, cultures, politics, and histories– John and Sharon Mahoney’s commitment to education has improved the way America engages with the Middle Eastern region.
The Board of Directors of Americans for Middle East Understanding is pleased to confer the inaugural award, The 2022 AMEU / John F. and Sharon Mahoney Award, to “Shirien Creates” in recognition of the unique graphic artistry she has inserted into seminal American conversations about justice and empathy. The AMEU Board hopes that the $5000 unrestricted grant the award carries will amplify her voice and narrow the distance between Americans and the people of the Middle East.
For additional details, contact ameu@aol.com.
[About the Image: The above image was published by Shirien Creates shortly after the assassination of celebrated Palestinian-American journalist, Shereen Abu Akleh. Despite the Israeli government’s repeated attempts to whitewash the extrajudicial killing, awareness campaigns such as Shirien’s persisted. Only yesterday, the American FBI opened an investigation. Art matters!]
www.ameu.org
(AMEU is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)3 not for profit corporation.)Edit